Experts: Ebola May Cost Nigeria Billions

The current outbreak of the Ebola virus in Nigeria may cost the Federal Government about $2 billion, this is according to a forecast made by a Lagos-based financial advisory and research firm, Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC). According to the firm in a report titled: “Making Economic Sense of the Ebola Scare,”, the sectors the Ebola virus would affect mostly in the country include aviation, hospitality and tourism, trade, medical and agriculture. Analysing these sectors’ contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the report stated that though the chance of the outbreak going into a second quarter was very slim, it could extend the loss to $3.5 billion. The Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu in an audience with the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle during a visit in the minister’s office in Abuja It could be recalled that the Boko Haram insurgency had been the headline news in Nigeria until 25 July, 2014 when it was confirmed that Ebola had been imported into the country by a Liberian businessman, Patrick Sawyer.